Thiago with that McGeady turn .

Yeah loved the first half.Amazing performance despite the fact that we were only up by 1 but I loved it.Also the line-up was almost the exact one which Is my preferred line up with this team.

Didnt really like the second half.

No love for el capitano? He was a beast today and all over the field. The main reason Alves could push high up the flanks and pull that MOTM performance.

Agree Puyol was also very good, looked fresh, won challanges and 50-50s. Also ran with Nelson well which is something at his age you would expect him to struggle, he coped well.

Didn't watch the game. Heard Cesc got whistled when he was subbed off. No matter how bad he was, I don't think he would deserve that.

Well I dont know. I am always split on this issue every time.

On one hand, booing or jeering him wont help him play better. In fact, it will make him play worse. Nothing positive comes from it.


However, on the other hand. They are fans, who pay their tickets and support the club. They are entilted not just to their opinion, but to show their opinion.

Who the f cares about what they think or do? Those fans were dead and didn't show a significant amount of reaction to the players until Messi came on. They're not Cules, but Messi fanboys. Comes Tuesday night, we'll only have the home ground advantage, no crowd one. It's been like this most of the time for the past few years. Wish Rossel would lift the ban off of BN. Yeah, some still attend the matches but it's just not the same anymore.

General thoughts on the performance... It was decent, but they are bottom of the table. We hardly blew them away, but we also missed the core of our team. Hard to assess. I hope that we get a bit of confidence, particularly from the Messi/Iniesta dynamism towards the end. Because lets be frank, they will be the guys to make the difference.

Cesc got booed? Yes, thats harsh. I'm a bit sick of the scapegoating of all the same players.

The problems have been just a generally lethargy to our play. Not zipping it around fast enough and making teams work like we do when we are really on our game.

Song wasn't so bad at all... I failed to notice it at least.

Thiago did his usual super little movements, and was good generally, but I've noticed of late his passing is a bit loose. He often finds his man, but theres much more to passing than that. Xavi's passes for example will always be to the preferred foot at a comfy speed. Thiago's just haven't been consistent of late, and in the past weeks, even some completely off.

Cesc wasn't so bad, but a bit invisible.

Alves was great, but since we're all praising his cross, I'll just point out his crossing was often pretty ordinary. 2 excellent balls from Masch were squandered. I don't quite understand why... Is it execution? Or his football brain? Because he has both of those at times and at others seems to completely lose them.

Puyol was definitely my MOTM, superb and helped our tempo plenty by getting us on the front foot early. Masch was excellent as well.

Conditioning is a big thing, but I also feel we miss Xavi immensely. Iniesta and Messi are all the wow-factor this year, but Xavi controls the tempo and that has been horribly off. We really need him against Milan I feel.

Of course fans would not be so keen on this game... On the eve of our very biggest game of the season against the very worst team in the league...

Bring Boixos Nois back? ... Yeah thats a great idea. Because they are the only 'real' fans are they?

I know it sounds cliche and you expect it from me, but I really, really don't want Cesc to play against Milan.

There is one big reason- and I'd like to see a statistic on it if it's available: he loses the ball SOOOOO much.

And when he loses it in the midfield area

We can't afford to give up an away goal and if Cesc my friends, is a ticking time bomb in terms of giving up possession in a dangerous area to a quick counterattack resulting in an away goal and Barcelona effectively out of the CL.

Cesc vs Depor:

Dispossessed- 3 times (Thiago 4, Tello 3)
Missed Passes- 4 of 97 attempted.

Really not that bad... I think he's just a bit invisible at times. Cesc only really looks good when he's doing something spectacular (scoring, assisting or making a chance). He doesn't have a pervasive influence on games, and I don't think he ever has.

That seems far too low for what I remember but fair enough. Probably selective memory makes him seem worse than what I remember.

But I don't need any statistics to tell me that he does lose the ball a lot...and for what he does, he shouldn't. He's not out wide dribbling a defender, he's not in the middle dribbling and driving forward like Iniesta, he mainly passes it around in midfield and will drift up near the top and look for a run and a finish or get the final pass off.

That's why even though it's higher than I like it to be, I'm not surprised with Thiago's four.

I'm just not confident in our possession and retention of the ball any time Cesc is near the midfield. He's slow, not a great dribbler, and he can be very sloppy sometimes.

BarcaKizz wrote:Of course fans would not be so keen on this game... On the eve of our very biggest game of the season against the very worst team in the league...

Bring Boixos Nois back? ... Yeah thats a great idea. Because they are the only 'real' fans are they?

Poor excuse. Our team is currently lacking confidence and the morale is quite low, it's the fans' duty to show support to the players to boost them up just ahead of our most important match of the season so far.

BN are the not the only real fans, but they're the def the loudest and are some of the most passionate cules out there despite the negative behavior of some of them.

Deja Vu wrote:

BarcaKizz wrote:Of course fans would not be so keen on this game... On the eve of our very biggest game of the season against the very worst team in the league...

Bring Boixos Nois back? ... Yeah thats a great idea. Because they are the only 'real' fans are they?

Poor excuse. Our team is currently lacking confidence and the morale is quite low, it's the fans' duty to show support to the players to boost them up just ahead of our most important match of the season so far.

BN are the not the only real fans, but they're the def the loudest and are some of the most passionate cules out there despite the negative behavior of some of them.

BN are violent neo-nazi's! I prefer a quiet stadium over a bloody stadium!

Letting them back in is another reason why I hate rosell..

Deja Vu wrote:

BarcaKizz wrote:Of course fans would not be so keen on this game... On the eve of our very biggest game of the season against the very worst team in the league...

Bring Boixos Nois back? ... Yeah thats a great idea. Because they are the only 'real' fans are they?

Poor excuse. Our team is currently lacking confidence and the morale is quite low, it's the fans' duty to show support to the players to boost them up just ahead of our most important match of the season so far.

BN are the not the only real fans, but they're the def the loudest and are some of the most passionate cules out there despite the negative behavior of some of them.

Whether its a poor excuse in your eyes or not thats what Barca fans and Spanish fans are like in general... Its the football culture.

I didn't think the fans were bad or anything, when the team needs the lift on Tuesday night, they will be roaring for 90 mins straight, I have no doubt.

BN's history and image is tarnished beyond repair. The same goes for every extremist football fan groups. No room for that rubbish in football. Violence and even aggressive behaviour is a poor form of expressing passion for a team.

Differencne between Tello and Thiago being dispossesed was they were actually trying to go past players...Cesc got dispossed by being slow on the ball. So that stat is quite misleading.

Once Thiago got caught on the ball not in a dribble move, Tello I dont think once.

Cesc, each and every time.

RealGunner wrote:Barcelona XI: Pinto, Alves, Mascherano, Puyol, Adriano, Song, Thiago, Fabregas, Sanchez, Villa, Tello

rg, regarding your avataar, are you a fan of Ryback ?

The Franchise wrote:Song is defensively pathetic honestly, he cant time a tackle at all.

On the ball, I have no problems, he can escape pressure and he can make accurate passes which choosing the correct passes. He has good composure too.

His defensive game is woeful though, I always new that but still.

Which once again tells us what a needless signing this was. The last thing we needed was an attacking midfielder.

So can anyone explain the baffling decision of playing Song alongside Busquets and taking Thiago off? Playing Thiago alongside Busquets would be so much better.

Perhaps the only way I can explain this is he was clearly bought to do the "Keita role" which again is a case of make what you will of it.

messixaviesta wrote:

RealGunner wrote:Barcelona XI: Pinto, Alves, Mascherano, Puyol, Adriano, Song, Thiago, Fabregas, Sanchez, Villa, Tello

rg, regarding your avataar, are you a fan of Ryback ?

kinda lol but not a huge one. I just like his catch phrase

BarcaKizz wrote:
Conditioning is a big thing, but I also feel we miss Xavi immensely. Iniesta and Messi are all the wow-factor this year, but Xavi controls the tempo and that has been horribly off. We really need him against Milan I feel.

So true kizz. For all Messi's brilliance it's the role that Xavi played which was our biggest USP in our days as the all time greatest team. Recently in my mind I made a list of the five plus one biggest reasons why we are not what we used to be. In no particular order here it is.

1. Villa aging, injured, out of form and above all replaced by Fabregas

2. Pedro way below his levels of 2009-11

3. Xavi's age and injuries catching up

4. Abidal replaced by Alba

5. Puyol on his last legs

Extra point - We have no coach.

BarcaKizz wrote:He doesn't have a pervasive influence on games, and I don't think he ever has.

kizz, that's quite some comment really worth thinking on. I would say in the very start of his career say up to 2008 he did have these qualities but as the years went by he began losing them. I once discussed this in detail with dani and he felt the biggest problem was that Cesc became obsessed with moving forward and scoring goals while losing sight of the other qualities that a great midfielder should possess and enhance. Unfortunately he seems to have become a single dimensional player now and many others such as Ozil and Silva who were well behind him then are now understandably rated higher.

RealGunner wrote:

kinda lol but not a huge one. I just like his catch phrase

I do too and I like him as well but in the last few years I have mainly been a fan of John Cena and The Undertaker. That said this is just for some comic fun, not the serious following that we have for football players for example.

messixaviesta wrote:

RealGunner wrote:

kinda lol but not a huge one. I just like his catch phrase

I do too and I like him as well but in the last few years I have mainly been a fan of John Cena and The Undertaker. That said this is just for some comic fun, not the serious following that we have for football players for example.

I am a huge Cena and undertaker fan as well Hoping for him to win the title at WM

Again, I think Thiago would be suited to the attacking CM position. He's good at dribbling and has some magic. I think he's a bit restricted in the Xavi role. I wonder which position he prefers.

Blah blah blah blah blah dribbling blah blah balh attack.

Song wasn't brought in to do the Keita role. If he was he would come on at the end of the game often enough but Song never even fking plays.

He was just a useless addition. There is no shame in admitting that.

Nothing wrong with having a player like Song for depth imo.

Yohan Modric wrote:Nothing wrong with having a player like Song for depth imo.

It's only depth if he plays.